Online Behavioral Advertising: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda

• In Event: Advertising and Branding

Abstract

Advertisers are increasingly monitoring people’s online behavior and using the collected information to show people individually targeted advertisements. This phenomenon is called online behavioral advertising (OBA). Although advertisers could benefit from OBA, the practice also raises privacy concerns. Therefore, OBA has received a lot of attention of advertisers, consumers, policymakers, and scholars. Despite this attention, there is no strong definition of OBA, nor a clear accumulation of knowledge about it. This paper defines OBA, and provides an overview of the empirical findings regarding OBA by developing a conceptual framework that identifies and integrates all factors that can explain consumer responses to OBA. The proposed framework shows that the outcomes of OBA are dependent upon ad-related factors (such as the level of personalization), and consumer-related factors (e.g., consumers’ knowledge about and perceptions of OBA, and individual characteristics such as age and privacy concerns). Based on this framework, we develop a research agenda, and discuss implications for policymakers and advertisers.

Authors

• Sophie Carolien Boerman, U of Amsterdam, Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR)

• Sanne Kruikemeier

• Frederik Zuiderveen Borgesius, IViR Institute for Information Law, U of Amsterdam